Beirut Car Bomb Kills Ex-Minister

A powerful car bomb near government headquarters in central Beirut has killed its suspected target, Lebanon’s former Finance Minister, 62-year-old Mohammed B. Chattah and at least six others, according to Lebanese officials. Chattah, a former Lebanese ambassador to the United States, has been critical of Hezbollah and was currently involved with a Sunni party called the Future Bloc, a group that supports the rebels in Syria and is close to the insurgency’s main backers, Saudi Arabia. The bomb is the first the capital has seen in several years, bringing the war in neighboring Syria closer than ever. Both sides in Syria’s civil war have threatened figures in Lebanon for their intervention. More than 70 could be injured.